The Thin Black Duke
by BEAT1999
Summary: ONE-SHOT 874, Mikasa and Armin attend the Ball of Wings, a ball in conmemoration of the war which freed Paradis from Marley and Zeke. There, they'll face the ghost of their past hidden beneath the figure of the Thin Black Duke, the head of government of Paradis. Rated T for slight gore at the end.


**Welcome, this is my first ever fanfiction to be pulished. It is my imagining of a possible post-canon world as of chapter 121 of the manga of SNK, going for a bittersweet ending to the whole debacle. ****It is a bit of a rush job, so it might be a little crude, but still I hope you guys can enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or this setting, they belong to Hajime Isayama and the other respective copyright holders.**

**Without further ado, hope you enjoy.**

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**The Thin Black Duke**

**874, The Eldian Royal Palace**

Unapologetic in its extravagance, that's how Mikasa would describe the ballroom in which the ceremony was taking place, had it always been this flamboyant? It had been so long since she had come to the central city located where once stood Wall Sina, she generally going to the interior in general. Wherever she looked she saw the members of the elite of Paradis, whether it was the old nobility, the new political class, or the high ranking members of the new Eldian Army, the servants being the only people of humble condition, outside of her of course. Why had she come again?

She looked her right to see a man slightly taller than her, his head covered by golden hair. A small smile appeared on her face as her longest, most loyal friend turned to face her, smiling in return. Admiral Armin Arlet, commander of the second new-eldian fleet, and the only one Mikasa still had from all those years ago, back when the world was confined to the now torn down remains of Wall Maria.

"Thank you for coming with me" he said. "I don't think I could face this pit of snakes without you."

"Hey, it's the least I could do" she answered back. "Besides, I still owed you." That made his friend chuckle.

"As I said, you don't owe me anything. I was just being a friend looking out for my loved ones." Mikasa couldn't help herself but grimace slightly at that, _oh Armin, you truly are a rare treat in this world _she thought to herself with certain melancholy_. _Armin offered his hand to hers. "Come on, we wouldn't to keep Historia waiting." She took his hand and gave a quick nod. The two walked down the hall that led to the main room of the ball. As they approached the stairs, an announcer took notice of them before proclaiming their presence to the room.

"Admiral Armin Arlet-Leonhardt, and his companion Captain Mikasa Ackerman have arrived at the Ball of Wings!" the voice sounded over the music and conversations going on, still only a few bothered to glance their way.

"Why did he have to say Captain?" Mikasa muttered in annoyance as she and Armin walked down the stairs. She had been granted the title of Captain of the Survey Corps, since then disbanded and reincorporated into the New-Eldian Army, shortly before she retired from her military career. As far as she was concerned that title meant nothing to her. Armin shrugged.

"These people love themselves some titles." His attempt at humor only managed to irritate her further, were people really that superficial? _Yes, of course they are _she thought to herself with certain spite_. _Armin caught onto her sour mood. "So, how are things at your home? It's been a while since we visited you." She simply shrugged.

"Well enough, I suppose. Tending the crops and other chores keep me busy most of the day, and whatever time I have left I usually spend exercising or such."

"Some things do not change" her friend replied with a snicker.

An insufferably long time had passed and Mikasa's patience was starting to run thin. The constant chit-chat of these elites was so predictable and vacuous that it could drive the strongest insane. "We should've probably used them as weapons back in the war, they'd drive the enemy to insanity" Armin had joked at one point, causing her give a small giggle. Right at that moment, they were seated in their designated table, around the front facing the platform where the queen and her honor guests would seat.

"So how's the family?" she asked idly as she sipped from her glass.

"Oh, lovely. Marco is just the sweetest, almost every day you can see him by the river playing around with the other kids from the town" Armin explained, with a small spark lighting in his eyes. "Sasha is a bit more solitary, but she' still a nice kid, like her mother."

"Really? And how's Annie taking the role of housewife?"

"You know, I thought it'd be a lot more difficult for her, but she just seems so comfortable in it, I honestly sometimes forget she could beat my ass with nothing but a wooden cooking spoon." Armin was giggling by the end of it.

"That's good for her" she said with discomfort, something which Armin, ever the sharp-minded one, caught onto immediately.

"Please, don't tell me there's still that old animosity between you two."

"What can I say? There's a lot baggage with her."

"Mikasa, it's been over 20 years since then. If Jean was capable of making peace with her, you should as well."

"I know" she sighed. "I'm just not there yet, I suppose." That response caused Armin to sigh in return.

"You two really are two sides of the same coin. She reacted similarly when I mentioned I'd be bringing you here tonight. You two and your pride, I swear" he said before mumbling something to himself. Mikasa couldn't blame Armin for trying to get her to befriend his now wife, after all both had relied on each other to rebuild their lives after the war and the sealing of their titan abilities. And what little of Annie Mikasa had seen in these last few years showed that the marlyean-born woman was really regretful of her actions and was trying to make amends. _He is right that it's only a matter of pride _she thought as she watched her glass, perhaps it really was time for her to make peace with every aspect of her past. She was taken out of her thoughts when the announcer named a character everyone in the room knew.

"Chancellor Eren Yeager has arrived at the ball of wings!" came the scream. Many in the crowd, Mikasa and Armin included, turned to the entrance on top the stairs to watch at the man in question. From this distance it was hard to make out the details, but Mikasa did recognize a tall, slim figure dressed in a black suit, with hair slicked backwards. With a cane and a limp on the right leg, the main figure of the government, just below the queen, he made his way down the stairs.

"I thought he was in a diplomatic mission to Hizuru" Mikasa heard Armin whisper beside her.

"They say that he went blind on his left eye, but he can still see through it out of sheer willpower" she heard a young voice gossip behind her table.

"That's preposterous!" another teenage voice muttered. "How's that even possible, anyhow?"

"I don't know, but I've seen up close, and I tell you his 'dead eye' is anything but dead."

Mikasa on her side, couldn't speak, she turned around and lost herself in another sip of her drink. Her blood was freezing cold and burning at the same time, she felt her fist instinctively clench at the base of her neck, in search of an item long forgotten. It had been over 2 years since the last time she saw Eren Yeager, even more since the last time the two had exchanged more than a casual greeting, yet still it seemed to Mikasa that every time he met him, the events during 854 had just transpired. She hated to acknowledge that she still held this resentment, after all it had been now 20 years since then, but she couldn't help herself. After all, even though it was all trick and he didn't actually mean the words he had said, Eren still had crushed her heart that day many years ago. She particularly hated it because there was real reason for her to still have them; he had, after all, come over to her, with that damn scarf in hands, and begged for her forgiveness, which at the time she gave warily. But, with time, the reconciliation was overshadowed by the hurt that led to it in the first place. She knew she was in the wrong for still holding such spite, but once again, she couldn't help herself. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Armin's sympathetic face. Words weren't necessary, as he knew just how complicated the situation between her and her once flame was.

Slowly but steady, the chancellor made his way to his private table, situated just in front of hers and Armin's of all places, somehow she knew that wasn't an accident. As he approached to take a seat, Mikasa could take a closer look of him. Eren Yeager was no longer the athletic man he was in his youth, his complexion being now quite slim and a little stiff. His hair was growing gray above his ears. His coat was black, with a large crystal tree on the right side as the only decoration with a white shirt buttoned-up to the neck, and he was using white gloves, like he had ever since the war. Looking at his 'dead eye' was still as unnerving as it was the first time all those years ago, the iris' once green color gone for a white tone that didn't blend with the rest of the globe and the pupil still present. That was the eye that turned their way as he acknowledged their presence as he was about to take a seat.

"Captain, Admiral" he greeted. His voice had grown raspy with the years, though it still had that power that was characteristic of his.

"Chancellor" Armin greeted back formally, Mikasa decided to keep quiet and simply gave a nod. Without any other words, he took a seat.

The next few minutes were particularly uncomfortable for Mikasa, as neither she or Armin felt like speaking all of a sudden, while in front of him, the thin black duke kept receiving visitors. From young nobles coming to complain about not getting their inheritance to the mayor of the royal city coming to ask about founding for a building project, all were quickly dismissed by the duke, who excused himself by inviting them to come to his office some other time.

Finally, silence was called for in the ball as the presence of queen Historia Reiss came into view. She was wearing a long white dress full of ornaments covered by a long red veil below her crown. As she approached the platform facing the room she moved graciously. After a few seconds of her seizing up the crowd, she began.

"Welcome everyone in this room, I appreciate you for coming this night to celebrate with me and the Eldian crown our fifteenth ball in commemoration of the Day of Wings. As many of you know, the reason we have declared this national holiday, is that until the year 850, we the people of the island of Paradis lived under the tyranny of King Fritz, who had erased our collective memory, and lifting walls Maria, Rose, and Sina, to keep us isolated from the world, succeeding in doing so for over one-hundred years. I am certain that many of you in this room remember those times, when we had been indoctrinated into thinking that we were the last remains of humanity, and were under the siege of the Titans. We have since been discovered to the truth of our situation, with Paradis eventually opening itself back to the world and the international community. It is so, in commemoration of we opening ourselves to the world and its wonders that we celebrate this Day of Wings!" The room thundered with applause.

As Historia's speech continued, Mikasa attempted to keep on listening to it, however her attempts were for naught as she caught the sight of a man with clothing from Hizuru approaching the table in front of hers.

"Chancellor Yeager, what a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting you to accompany us tonight" the man said as he took a seat.

"It is my duty to attend to these kinds of events, ambassador Asakura."

"I pray that you found your stay in Hizuru pleasant, chancellor."

"Only too pleasant, I didn't want to leave by the end of the summit."

"Oh, it's so relieving that our hospitality was up to your standards and needs, chancellor. Did you visit Mount Fuyimashingami?"

"I have a picture of it hanging in my quarters as we speak, ambassador."

"That's just lovely, oh chancellor, you bring this humble servant lots of pride for his nation."

"Indeed. However, I have the feeling that you did not come to me only to ask about my touristic activities through your nation" Eren's tone shifted at that. Gone was the light-hearted, almost pleasant tone in the man's voice, replaced by one that reminded Mikasa of the coldness in his delivery during their time in Marley 20 years ago, and the words such voice conveyed. Ambassador Asakura sighed.

"Ever a man to jump introductions, chancellor, many would find that impolite. I, instead, find it relieving. Yes, a telegram has reached our office earlier this afternoon, from the Shogun's palace. If I were to inform you that a decision that would benefit us both was agreed upon, what would your response be?"

"I would say that we need to take this conversation where we aren't bothering these fine people" the thin black duke answered, giving a small glance towards the table Mikasa and Armin were. Without another words, the two men stood up and walked out of the view of the public, disappearing behind a door below a staircase.

The rest of Historia's speech was rather uneventful after that.

Sometime later, after the party had continued on, Armin and Mikasa had been taken upstairs to a private room where Historia was waiting for them. As soon as they entered the room, the queen walked towards them before giving each a hug.

"My friends" she said with a smile on her face, "it's been so long."

"It has, your grace" answered Armin, getting punched in the shoulder by the queen as a response.

"Please not you as well. Everything every day is "your grace this" "your grace that" and so on. It gets tiring. So please, just this once, I'm only Historia."

"Understood" said Armin with a smile as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Mikasa, I heard you took home in a farmhouse not far from Shiganshina, tell me about it."

They sat down and accepted the cups of tea offered to them. The three chatted idly for some time, Mikasa had to admit that there was some comfort talking to someone who had gone through what oneself had, even if to a lesser extent. The chat was interrupted as the door opened and a servant came through.

"Your grace, chancellor Yeager wishes a word with you, he says it is of immediate importance." The queen sighed as she put her cup down.

"It seems the world doesn't stop when one is in good company" she lamented. "Tell the chancellor to come in." The servant nodded and left for the door. "Armin, Mikasa, you wish to stay."

"No thanks" Mikasa said as she started rising from her seat.

"I'm afraid I don't have the guts for politics, Historia." The queen once again sighed.

"Very few have, don't feel bad" she said sympathetically. "It's been delightful seeing you again, my dear friends." As the made their way out through a small hallway they caught sight of Eren walk his way to Historia. Both stopped themselves and leaned in to listen as the Thin Black Duke made bow.

"Your grace" he said. "Forgive me for not kneeling, my right one's been causing difficulties lately."

"It is no matter, chancellor" the queen waved off. "Please take a seat." The duke obliged. "I was told this matter is of immediate importance, correct?"

"It is, your grace. It has a lot of importance for the safety of Paradis."

"Oh, it's that? For a small moment I hoped you finally had reconsidered my words" the queen answered with irony lacing her words, the chancellor chuckled.

"I have been thinking about it, but my answer is still no, I am too selective for marriage." An exasperated sigh left the queen's mouth, which was met by a small chuckle by the chancellor. "What is it, then?"

"I just finish speaking with ambassador Asakura. Hizuru has officially agreed to all terms. Our mutual-protection pact has been solidified into a complete and unilateral alliance."

"Oh, that's good to hear. Hizuru being our ally means that the Middle-Eastern Nation will look to ally with us as well"

"Indeed, I already sent for a telegram to be redacted."

"This is fantastic news indeed, chancellor" she said with certain disinterest.

"Now, with Hizuru backing us up officially, Marley won't dare threaten us again. They are not foolish enough to declare war on one of the other world powers, not with the revolts going on internally. We can finally be free from the threat of war" said the duke with enthusiasm.

"Eren." The words of the queen clearly caught him off-guard.

"Yes, your grace?"

"…I just spoke to her."

"You have?" Interest appearing in his. The queen nodded. "What did you talk about?"

"I didn't touch the subject, if that's what you fear. I didn't need to, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"The only thing keeping you two apart is your stupid senses of pride." Silence filled the room as the words echoed both through the walls and Mikasa's head. Quickly suppressing the threat of getting emotional, she walked away, not even waiting for Armin. Mikasa decided it had been a mistake accepting to come to the ball.

After some time, Armin and Mikasa were sitting in a room below the ball. The lights hanging on the wall not giving enough illumination, as half the room was in shadows. Besides them, there were some other people in the room, but none really paid attention to them, these were likely the young sons of men of importance looking for a way to not get bored to tears. And even though they shared a relatively small room, their voices could barely be heard.

The silence between the two was shattered as the bells started chiming indicating midnight, the official beginning of the Day of Wings. Suddenly all the kids left the room, leaving the two veterans sitting alone in the room that resembled a small library.

"What are you thinking about Mikasa?" asked Armin.

"Nothing… it's just… it's been 20 years since Marley."

"I know what you mean… It sometimes feels like it was different people the ones who were there."

"That's because they were" came a soft, raspy voice approaching them. Both turned to find the Thin Black Duke approaching them, without saying a word, he took a seat opposite to Mikasa, with Armin at his right. "People change a little bit every day, it's so gradual you don't realize you're unrecognizable to yourself until it's too late."

"What are you here for?" asked Mikasa, trying not to get her frustration into her voice.

"I needed a rest from those people" answered the chancellor with a shrug. "They have mastered the art of speaking lots of words with the intent of saying nothing at all."

"Is that all, chancellor?" asked Armin crossing his arms. The man in black placed his hands on his cane.

"I prefer being away from crowds at these moments, it allows me to think about what was sacrificed to get here."

Silence fell once again. Mikasa looked at the man in front of him. He was thin, there were bags under his eyes, his lips were dry, and his thumbs were playing around with the top of his cane. To think that this man was the one who unleashed the Rumbling, the one who had defeated the Marleyan Empire in the span of days, the one who had sealed away all of the titan powers away from the world. The one who had lied, manipulated, murdered and broken his path to victory.

"You ever think about those days?" asked Mikasa quietly. He lifts eyes to meet hers.

"It's very hard not to, the lives we've led left us a lot to think about." His eyes didn't show the anger he did in his youth, nor did they show the coldness that he became more characterized since, instead there was exhaustion, the one only comes with years of restless nights. Restless nights of second-guessing, but without the chance of a second opportunity. Mikasa knew those kinds of eyes, she saw them regularly for a good portion of her youth, and even to this point she would still wake up with questions without answers. A dry laugh left his mouth. "When was the last time we shared a table together?"

Mikasa knew, and she knew Eren and Armin knew as well.

"Funny to think that there was once was a time where I'd see you every waking hour of the day." Eren said as he lowered his gaze once again.

"Funny to think that had things gone slightly differently we'd still see each other regularly" Armin replied, certain spite entering his tone.

"Funny to think that had things gone slightly differently we'd be too dead to care" argued back Eren, looking in his direction before shrugging. "That's the thing about speculating, if you give yourself enough time, you can come up with anything. But just because it's possible doesn't mean it's going to happen."

"So you have no regrets, is that what you're saying?" asked Armin, his voice trembling a bit.

"The Thin Black Duke regrets nothing" said the other man, before lowering his eyes again. The silence that befell them was deafening. Mikasa wanted to scream, to slap Eren, to let her frustrations run wild, _why shouldn't I, he regrets nothing?_ "Eren Yeager, though…" That phrase stopped her in her tracks. Eren started taking his gloves off. "He… is a man with a lot of weight on his shoulders… the weight of being the last hope for humanity… the weight of having access to the future but not knowing what to do with it… the weight of betraying those closest to him just to gain a little time. That is a kind weight that is only lowered on a coffin."

He looked down at his naked hands and so did his once-friends. They were burned up, skin and flesh melted into one, the movements of the tendons being painfully visible. His little finger in his left hand was the worst one, though; the fair tone of skin changed for a dark brown of burnt flesh, the skin, the fingernail and most of the muscle being burned away, with bone being visible.

"Eren…" Mikasa whispered as she leaned forward to look at his burned hands.

"What happened?" asked Armin.

"I sealed away the titan powers a little too early" Eren explained as he lifted his hand to point to his left eye, "and paid for it."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Mikasa's voice was barely above a whisper.

"What was there to tell? There was nothing you could do, and who was I to say you wanted anything to do with me anyway." Mikasa took his right hand in hers, the feeling of the flesh without skin. Eren looked up at her, and then looked back down at his hands. "This were once beautiful hands" he chuckled bitterly. "Strong too, strong enough to wrap a scarf around a beautiful woman's neck. Now they can only hold a pen that could send thousands to their deaths" he said bitterly.

He took his gloves and started putting them on again. "I don't enjoy thinking about the past, it gives me a window to a time of hope, and I can lose myself in such false promises quite easily as of late." Mikasa and Armin were too shocked to even move, by the time they could react, Eren was already standing up and making his leave. As he was about to exit through the arch, he turned back to see them.

"If fortune is kind, I shall see you again soon" he said in the voice of the Thin Black Duke, a voice that was almost serene, the mask falling again on his face. "Take care of yourselves until then." And with that, he turned and left, back to the party, back to the mindless talk by power-hungry individuals. Back to the world where liars and betrayers fare best.

Mikasa decided she shouldn't have come.

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**So, yeah, this was it. Hope you enjoyed. As I said this is a one-shot and probably will not touch this work again, at least not for some time (however I could use some elements of this in some later work but it's still up in the air). I'm currently working on another story, this one would be multi-chapter, though I'm still unsure when I could be releasing it. **

**Also, if there's any Ghost fans reading, I hope you caught on that I based Eren's look on Papa Emiretus III.**

**Thank you for reading, and all reviews are welcomed.**


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